Advanced Test Automation Technologies

By Jeff Hinz, CTO, TESTars Test Competence Centre.with Martin Gijsen, Principal Test Automation Architect, DeAnalist.nlReviewed for accuracy by Christopher J. Scharer, Director VIVIT Worldwide and Maurice Siteur, Managing Consultant, in Testing, Capgemin
Explaining fourth generation test automation Jeff wrote a whitepaper to get clients knowledgeable in basic test automation principles. For those needingan introduction to the basics of test automation please refer to the white paper Jeff wrote addressing the subject, Test Automation Awarenessi. To understand advanced test automation, it is important to understand the progression/evolution of test automation approaches

1st Generation – Record and Playback

                                      

2nd Generation – Use/reuse of functions in test scripts

3rd Generation – Data Driven scripts/functions

4th Generation – Action word (keyword) scripts/func.

5th Generation – Scriptless Automation

General Automation Process In Real Time

                 

1. Requirement Gathering.
In this stage Test Engineers will collect the requirement documents and review the documents and they analyse the documents from where to automate it.
2.Identify the Best tool to fit.
In this stage Test engineers will analyse which tool is the best to automate the application.
3.Proof of Concept
Here Test engineers will give a proof how to automate the software to the client.
Some times client may give end to end scenarios or we may add end-to-end scenarios.
4.Feasibility Analysis
It is detailed study of the requirements in order to check whether all the requirements are possible are not.
Test Engineers will check where to automate the application and for example cmd prompt test cases will not be automated.
5.Estimation
*Based on Man hours we calculate Man days
6.Frame works
There are different types of frame works and test lead will decide the best frame work for the software.
Frame works are Keyword Frame work, Linear Frame work, Modular Frame work, Data driven Frame work, Hybrid Frame Work.
7.Develop Automation Scripts
Here the Test Engineers will develop the scripts by Knowing the requirement document, when the build is released then they debug the scripts and execute it
8.Failure Analysis
Here we should plot the data how it is failed
Why the script is failing?
Reasons for failures
Data issues
Application may synchronise
Object identification Issues
Run time errors,Defects
9.Defect Tracking
Test Engineers will track the defect where it is failed.
10.Publish Results
We should give proper Reason where it is failed and in which part it is effecting.

Automation testing Tools

 Test automation tools

Tool name	Produced by	Latest version
QTP	HP	11.0
IBM	IBM Rational	8.1.0.3
Parasoft SOAtest	Parasoft	9.0
Ranorex	Ranorex GmbH	3.0
Rational robot	IBM Rational	2003
Selenium	Open source	1.0.10
SilkTest	Micro Focus	2010 R2
TestComplete	SmartBear Software	8.2
TestPartner	Micro Focus	6.3
TOSCA Testsuite	TRICENTIS Technology & Consulting	7.2.1
VS	Microsoft	2010
WATIR	Open source	1.6.5
WebUI Test Studio	Telerik, Inc.	2010.3

Common problems in Automation Testing

What are the common problems with software automation?

The biggest concern is the cost incurred for test automation. Also, often s/w test automation requires skilled personnel and authentic test automation tools. Purchasing license of such tools is a costly affair.

Also the time required for test automation is more. Automation often requires recording the sequence of operations you need to perform in order to execute a particular test case and comparing the final o/p with the expected o/p. Functions/macros need also be written sometimes for some test cases. All this could be a time consuming job.

What are the parameters of Quality cost?

The parameters of Quality Cost are:

Speed
Accuracy
Efficiency
Performance
Customer Satisfaction